


Meeting the Parents

by Jadeycakes99



Series: Autistic Castiel [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Autism, Autistic Castiel, F/M, Family Dinner, M/M, Public Meltdown, Supportive Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-07
Updated: 2014-08-08
Packaged: 2018-02-11 20:31:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2082150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadeycakes99/pseuds/Jadeycakes99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Dean's parents are staying in town, and they're staying with Dean and Castiel. They pick up on some of Cas's quirks early on, but not until after dinner at a restaurant do they experience a meltdown. Dean gets frustrated, but both Sam and Cas help him through it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Before Dinner

Dean was not looking forward to the next few days. His parents were in town, and they would be staying in Dean and Cas’s apartment as Sam and Jessica’s apartment only had one bedroom. While Dean and Cas had two bedrooms, one was used as Cas’s cool down room, and Cas had a hard time dealing with visitors for more than two hours, let alone two days. Dean did his best to not invite them, going so far as to put them up in a nice hotel, but they were subtly hinting about not liking hotels, and Dean eventually gave in. He discussed it with Castiel who was less than thrilled, but agreed to let Dean’s parents stay and use his cool down room.  


“You owe me.” Castiel sighed. Dean grinned and kissed him.  


“Will this work?” He asked slipping his hand into the waistband of his “home clothes,” which consisted of pajama pants and one of Dean’s t shirts.  


“I’m not sure yet. I don’t like people being in my space. Well, I don’t mind you that much, but even that took a while.” Cas replied without pretense. Dean sighed and pulled his hands from his boyfriend’s waist.  


“I’m sorry.” Dean said.  


“I’m not angry with you.” Castiel replied genuinely. 

Mr. and Mrs. Winchester would be arriving in a few hours, and as the time got closer, Cas was twisting his fingers anxiously, and he was starting to stab his arms with his nails. Dean grabbed his hands to intervene. Cas hummed in anxiousness.  


“Everything will be fine.” Dean soothed, kissing his temple. And Cas stopped with the stabbing, but kept twisting his fingers. The doorbell rang. Dean looked to him, and reached his hand out, Cas took it and instead of twisting his fingers, opted for crossing and uncrossing the fingers on his unoccupied hand. They answered the door.  


“Hello Honey! And you must be Cas! Lovely to meet you.” Mary said brightly.  


“I am not sustenance for bees Mrs. Winchester.” Castiel replied seriously, looking quite disturbed. It took a second before she tittered politely.  


“Hello, Son. Pleasure to meet you Castiel.” He said gruffly holding out his hand. Cas shook it with the one not tightly clutching Dean’s hand, which was an awkward shake, but John shrugged it off.  


“Hello. Mr. Winchester.” He replied, relieved that at least one of his boyfriend’s parents didn’t see him as bee food.  


“Cas?” Dean said after the small talk.  


“Yes Dean?”  


“We need to take their suitcases to the bedroom. Could you please let go of my hand?” Dean looked guiltily at his boyfriend, and Castiel let go reluctantly.  


“I’ll get them Dean.” John offered, he picked up one of his own, and bent over to pick up Mary’s, but Dean beat him to it. Dean held his free hand to Cas, who accepted it.  


“Your room is this way.”  


“It’s my room Dean.” Castiel interjected.  


“Until they leave it will be their room.” Castiel nodded, though still upset. Mary and John exchanged looks, but to their credit, did not mention the fact that they seemed to have two separate bedrooms. "It's this way." Dean said, and he was about to move, but Castiel's death grip on his hand pulled him back. He sighed.  


"Cas?"  


"Yeah?"  
"We're showing them to your room."  


"Sorry." They went down the hallway, to Cas's cool down room, and opened the door, as soon as Mary and John entered, Cas pulled away and started scratching at his wrists. Even though this had already been explained to him, he still didn't like people invading his personal space.  


"We'll let you get settled." Dean said, trying to put his hand out to Cas again, but he opted to cover his ears. John's eyes widened, and Mary looked nervously between her son and his boyfriend.  


"Is he okay?" He asked.  


"Yeah." Dean replied, " He's just a little bit stressed. Cas, come on." He held out his hand, and Cas gripped tight. He left John and Mary to whisper.  


As soon as he cooled down, which took a tad bit longer because of a lack of a cool down room, Dean had to ask, "Are you going to be okay for dinner tonight? Jess will be there, and I know you don't like her." Jess was sweet, but she tended to treat Cas like a child. She hadn't gotten much better even after Dean educated Sam.  


"I can do it Dean Winchester." Calling people by there full names was a method he used to keep calm.  


"Are you positive Cas?" Dean asked suspiciously. He would never cancel something Castiel said he could do, but ever since Dean's parents arrived twenty minutes ago, his stimming had gotten pretty intense. He was twisting his fingers, crossing his toes, humming monotones, and Dean couldn't help having the slightest doubt that maybe dinner wasn't such a good idea.  


"I can do it Dean Winchester." He repeated.  


"Alright. Well, we're leaving in a couple hours, so you had better get ready." He kissed Cas who was all too eager to keep kissing, but Dean pushed him back, and with both boys grinning, he went to make sure his parents had settled in.  


"Hey, are you guys settled in okay?" Dean asked happily.  


"Yeah, is Cas okay?" Mary asked.  


"He's fine, he just gets a little agitated sometimes, oh, our reservations are in three hours, so Cas should be coming through here any minute, it's part of his routine for before we leave, and we want to make sure we aren't late, so he's starting it now."  


"Is Cas okay, like, mentally?" Dean froze at his mother's question.  


"Mary, don't..." John warned.  


"What do you mean, 'is he okay, mentally?'" He asked.  


"Does he have some kind of disorder or something?"  


"Not really. I mean, he's autistic." Dean replied casually, but Mary paled.  


"He's autistic?" She shot a concerned look at John, and everyone was quiet, as Cas came through, running his finger across the trimming, and taking no notice that there were other people in the room.  
"Yeah, why do you look like you just saw a ghost?" Mary didn't respond until Castiel left the room.  


"Do you remember my friend Karen?" She asked. Dean vaguely remembered his mother mentioning a Karen, but he didn't understand what it had to do with her issue towards his boyfriend.  
"Yeah, what about her?" He asked.  


"She had a son with autism. Whenever I went to her house, he was always screaming, and doing that finger thing that he was doing. He wasn't out of diapers until he was six, and he couldn't read until he was ten. He still lives at home with her, and he's a little older than you. I think he's twenty nine." Dean stared at her for a moment.  


"Did you hear Castiel talk?" He asked. "He is a biologist. He has a doctorate." He stated. "I am a mechanic dating a biologist. He is a very smart person. If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism. He has sensitivity to light, and he doesn't like having people in his area, and he likes having a routine when he's going to do certain things. He occasionally has meltdowns if he is overwhelmed. There is nothing wrong with him, and that son of your friend, is not Cas. Cas is socially awkward, sure, but he is sweet, incredible, he can be so funny, and he is probably the smartest person I know." Mary looked at the floor, embarrassed.  


"What time is dinner again?" John asked conversationally, breaking the tension.  


"Three hours. Sam and Jess are meeting us there."  


"I'm sorry Dean." Mary said eventually.  


"It's fine, you didn't know. Just, give him a shot, okay?" John, a man of few words, clasped his shoulder and smiled before going to his suitcase, and Mary just nodded. He left them to get ready.  


"Thank you for attempting to stick up for me, Dean." Cas said quietly from their bed, when he entered the room.  


"You heard that? What do you mean attempting?"  


"Well she shared an anecdote about someone she knew, and then you started describing me in your angry voice, so I concluded that you were attempting to defend me from something you found offensive. Was it her body language?" He asked putting air quotes around body language.  


"Another thing, you are beautifully naive."  


"I am no-" he was cut off and distracted with a kiss.

"I know. I love you." Cas sighed. He did not understand the concept of constantly reiterating it to someone, when they already got the point, but Dean liked saying and hearing it, so Cas came to enjoy this ritual as well.  


"I love you too."


	2. Chapter 2

"Mom! Dad!" Sam called over.  


"Sammy!" Mary replied excitedly.  


"Hey, Sam." John said with a smile. They both hugged him.  


"Mom, Dad, meet Jessica." He gestured to her proudly.  


"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Winchester. It is such a pleasure to meet you." She said, shaking their hands daintily.  


Cas was twisting his fingers nervously, and Dean raised an eyebrow and held his hand out, and Cas grabbed it. They sat down with their hands intertwined. Cas was next to Dean and Jessica. Jess was across from Sam, and Mary and John were next to each other.

"So, Jessica, Sam tells us that you are going to be a teacher." She grinned sheepishly.  


"Yeah, I have an interview to teach high school calculus, has he told you the other good news?"  


"What other good news?" John asked. Sam smiled at Jess.  


"I got a full ride into Stanford Law School."  


"He scored a 174 on the LSATs."  


"Oh, I am so proud of you honey!"  


"Congrats Son." John said.  


"Nice going Sammy." Dean grinned at his brother.  


"Congratulations Sam. I understand that is a very good score." Sam bowed his head, grinning.  


"Thanks Cas."  
The waiter took their orders, and brought out the Bordeaux. Everyone was talking, and laughing, and drinking, when the fire alarms went off. The manager came out and calmly explained that it was a malfunction, and told everyone the matter would be resolved. Castiel, buried his face in his arms. After they turned the alarm off a few moments later, the light continued to flicker. Dean didn't notice until Mary said,  


"Wow, these lights are starting to give me a headache." He whipped his head to where Castiel was buried in his arms, and he was humming loudly in a monotone. He tried to comfort him, but Cas flinched away at the touch, and put his hands over his eyes and began to hum louder.  


A few people, Jessica and John included, were staring uncomfortably. Other patrons, such as Mary and Sam were keeping their gaze deliberately off of him.  


"Castiel, let's go to the car. The lights won't be flickering out there."  


"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen..." Castiel continued counting over his voice, and more people focused on him. Dean was growing painfully aware of all the attention they're table was receiving. Cas began digging his nails into his arms, and scratched his wrist very hard, drawing blood, and his family sat around looking horrified. Dean grabbed his arms, pulling his hands away, earning a disapproving hum from Cas. He escorted Cas to the car. He was walking through the parking lot twisting his fingers, flapping his hands, and occasionally kicking a car, which is when Dean would check to make sure no one was coming. Sam met them outside after a few minutes. He stood beside his brother, leaning against the beloved Impala.  


"How long do these things usually last?"  


"It depends. You know how Mom was getting a headache from the blinking lights?"  


"Yeah, so was I."  


"For him, it's like torture. I mean he already sees light brighter than you or me."  


"So I guess you're not taking him to 'spring break.'" He said, putting air quotes around spring break. Dean looked at him confusedly.  


"What are you talking about?"  
"Remember senior year? You convinced Mom and Dad to let you and me go with Benny to Florida for spring break?"  


"Yeah, what about it?"  


"That one night, when you told me to stay in, I followed you and Benny to that one bar with the flashing lights? That's how I found out you liked dudes." Dean chuckled.  


"You went Purgatory too?" Dean asked, extremely amused. Had he found out senior year of high school, he would have been upset, seeing as he didn't officially come out until after he moved to California.  


"Was that what it was called? Man, it was a freaking battlefield. I couldn't get through the entrance without ten guys hitting on me. Of course, I was a high school freshman, so I didn't really get the fact that it was a gay bar." Dean snorted.  


"Don't flatter yourself. It was a gay bar in Miami during spring break." The brothers chuckled.  


"Does it ever bother you?"  


"Gonna have to be a bit more specific Sammy." 

"You can't really go places that are going to be bright or crowded. He makes a hell of a scene."  


"Nah. It's not his fault. Lights are brighter to him. I don't like spicy food. I gave up night clubs, not hard by the way, when you get older and are in a relationship, they kind of suck, and he gave up Indian food." He shrugged. Castiel was sitting by a car, and seemed to have calmed down. Dean walked over to him.  


"You okay now?" He asked.  
"I'm sorry. If you want to break up with me, that's okay." He said, as always.  


"Do you want me to break up with you?" Though it was just a formality. He knew the answer was no.  


"No, but I must've embarrassed you. Especially in front of your parents."  


"Hey, don't worry about my parents. Are you feeling better?" Cas nodded.  


"I'm going to go check to see if the lights are off." Sam said, feeling a little bit uncomfortable at the intimacy of the moment. Dean held his out to Cas, who took it. He stood up and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's neck. Dean wrapped his arms around his waist and kissed his cheek.  


"I'm sorry the fire alarm went off."  


"Why are you sorry? It isn't as if you caused it." He pulled back from the hug and squinted at Dean who rolled his eyes at the look on his boyfriend's face.  


"I just feel bad that you had to experience that."  


"Oh, okay." Sam walked out. " They were finally able to fix it. "Are you ready to go back in Cas?"  


"I like the lights out here." Castiel said. Everything still felt kind of intense for him.   


"Alright. I'm going to go in, here are the keys, you can hang out in the car, do not change my stations to your classical crap. That's what you car is for." Cas smiled.  


"I have classic rock stations preset in my car just for you." Cas complained. "Also, I happen to have a CD of Wagner in your glove compartment, anyways."  


"Really Cas? Why don't either of you embrace technology?" Sam groaned. Castiel let out a small laugh, meanwhile Dean just rolled his eyes.  


"Come on Sammy. Let Cas listen to his boring Nazi music." And he ran off before Castiel could give them a "short" biography of Richard Wagner.  


"Where did Cas go?" John asked when the boys arrived back in the restaurant without him.  


"He's hanging out in the car. Apparently he prefers the parking lot's lighting." Dean shrugged.  


"Are you going to..? You know." Mary asked. Jessica leaned forward.  


"I don't know." Dean said. He didn't know what they could possibly be talking about.  


"Are you going to take him to the hospital?" She asked, tapping her head. Dean was still confused.  


"Oh. You mean the scratch? He's fine. It was barely a nick."  


"Not that kind of hospital." She responded, tapping her head again, before sipping her wine.  


"Are you taking him to the psych ward?" Jessica asked more bluntly. "Also, should he be in the car by himself?"  


John looked just as interested in Dean's response as the ladies. Dean grimaced.  


"Cas is fine. He just had some issues with the light that were overwhelming. Yes, Jessica he can be in the car all he wants, in fact he could drive if he wanted, because he's an adult." He was about to continue when the waiter came to the table.  


"Can I get you anything else?"  


"Could I take these two to go?" He asked, gesturing to his and Castiel's plate."Here is a key to our apartment, half of which, he is paying for because has a job, because he is a grownup. In fact, he does our bills and pays the rent, because most of the time, he's more grown up than me." He walked out, forgetting about their food. 

Dean drove home, and didn't say a word to Cas, who was so nervous about meeting his parents, and wanted to make a good impression. When they got home, Dean leaned forward and captured his lips. They went inside, to their bedroom, and "relieved some of the stress" from the evening, before going to sleep. The next morning, Dean found a note and the apartment key at the living room table. It read,  


"Dean,  
Your mother and I are so sorry for last night. We were out of line. I thought it might relieve some tension if we stayed in a motel for the rest of our visit. Castiel seems great, and I can tell you two love each other very much. Your mother will come around, she is still a little bit frazzled from last night. Please call call me when you get this note, so we can do something later, and I can get to know Cas a little better.  
-Dad"


End file.
